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Monthly Archives: August 2013

My sister needed a new Kiki in the worst way. My Aunt made us both crocheted blankets when our mom was pregnant with us. Back then, parents didn’t get to find out what they were having, so I got a pink and blue blanket. My sister got a peach and pale green blanket. They were both in a chevron pattern! I didn’t actually start using mine until my sister was born. I had already been through one Kiki in my 5 short years and decided to start using the blue and pink one when my sister got hers. They are still our comfort items. Maybe it’s weird. Who cares? I think that more people still have them and just won’t blog to the world that they still do have them. Moving on…

Ombré peach yarn with green and (best of all) pink! Here is the thing about the sample picture. That little snippet is knitted, not crocheted. Most ombré yarn looks better knitted than crocheted. Trust me. But, I had a plan. It was my first time trying this pattern. I am usually not a piece-by-piece crocheter, but to keep the ombré looking beautiful, it had to be done.

Without further ado, Kaytie’s new Kiki.

Isn’t it beautiful? My sister loves it because it is so soft, and I love it because the ombré effect is just stunning. It was a hard pattern, and I am not sure I will do it again, but I love this Kiki.

I took an online photo class this summer! It basically helped give you inspiration for your phone photography. Which is great for me, because my iPhone is my main camera. The class was through Big Picture Classes, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the topics was telling your story just by taking a picture of where you are standing at certain moments during your day. I thought it was weird at first, but when I look back at my little foot story, I remember why I was doing that, and where the story went from there.

1. Perler Beads – I have absolutely no photos of any kids doing this. If you need a refresher on Perler Beads, they are the little colored beads you stick on peg boards. Then you iron them and “melt” them together and you have a rainbow like art piece. Some kids adored it, others, not so much. A few Moms who came to the party helped at this station and it was nice of them.

2. Paint your own art boxes – I found brown (kraft) photo boxes for the kids to paint. They painted them with just basic Crayola paints. Megan, former student/nanny, taped their initial on it if they wanted or helped them paint flowers, hearts, etc. They got to take these home and put all of their favors in them.

3. Tye-Dye Tshirts – This was time-consuming and crazy, but turned out awesome! Rian and I limited their pattern choice to two different types. The kids would tell Rian what pattern they liked and what colors they liked. We had about 4/12 kids help with the coloring, but it was taking forever and messy. So I just made shirts for pretty much the rest of the party. Since the kids could not wear them that day, I don’t have pics besides me hunched over the sink working on them and the ones I made Collin and Casey. They actually turned out pretty great and bright! They are my boys go-to shirts for the summer.

Of course we had a few favors. The boxes they painted, their tye-die shirts, a pack of neon crayons, a coloring pad with a Duct Tape cover, some candy and “art hats.” These were left-over train conductor hats I got for the twins party with a smokin’ deal, so I just changed them to art hats. The kids loved them.

The biggest hit of the party may have been just the crazy play time outside. They all ended up getting in to Cam’s dress up box, and it got crazy from there. Cam was Spiderman and he sweated like crazy in the backyard playing with all of the kids.

That is Spiderman, Batman, a white-caped super hero and a Peyton Manning cape girl all playing soccer.

Overall, I would say this party was a huge success! Cam can’t wait for his 6th birthday.

1. Las Vegas – Rian and I headed to Vegas for the first time in four years for a celebratory work trip (more on this later). We stayed at the Wynn and win we did. It was a great weekend in Vegas.

2. The Newsroom – By far, one of my favorite TV shows ever. Season 2 premiered again this month and it is so good! It picks up right where they left off in Season 1, which I like. My favorite character is the somewhat douchey, Don Keefer. I can’t explain why. I just do. (Do you use the word douchey? I do. If you read this blog, it’s going to get used. Sorry if you don’t like it, but it is such a good descriptor for an asshole, weasel type person.)

3. Kansas City Royals Game – We went to a game over 4th of July weekend (more on this later) and it was a blast. The fireworks show could have been a little better, but my kids enjoyed it. My favorite part? Singing Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places” during the 5th inning stretch. So fun!